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Hospitalman Bryan Vandesande, 25, of Rochester, N.Y., was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal during a ceremony at the hospital Friday for aiding Marines critically injured in an ambush while on patrol last year in Afghanistan. Vandesande's medal was fixed with a gold "V" to signify valor in combat.
Vandesande and the platoon of Marines to which he was assigned were on patrol near Marjah in July when they were ambushed by Taliban fighters from several positions, according to a copy of the award citation.
"I'll never forget that day," Vandesande said. "It was my first patrol in Afghanistan. We were returning home to our base when they came up behind us. Two of my Marines were hit and both went down. They called for me and that was pretty much it."
One of the Marines had been shot in the right thigh and again in his left thigh, shattering his femur, Vandesande said. The other was hit with shrapnel in the back of the head.
Under heavy enemy fire and unable to move the injured Marines, Vandesande stayed with them and treated their injuries as best he could until a medical evacuation helicopter arrived.
"I was kind of in the middle of it all," Vandesande said. "So I pulled them about 10 or 15 feet into a ditch and waited for everyone to catch up."
Both Marines survived, according to the citation.
Vandesande said that while he was honored to receive the medal, he was unsure his actions warranted such recognition.
"People call me a hero, but I'm not," Vandesande said. "That's my job. My Marines are my heroes. Being a corpsman, you're the only (medical treatment) that the Marines have besides the training that you give them. If they call for a corpsman, I'm going to go."
Vandesande was also meritoriously promoted last year as a result of his actions that day, according to Navy officials.
He returned in January to Beaufort, where he had served for a year before deploying to Afghanistan for 10 months.
Capt. Joan Queen, the naval hospital's commanding officer, said Vandesande's modesty is typical of the hospital corpsman who puts himself in harm's way to aid the injured.
"I know when you talk to him, he'll say he was just doing his job," Queen said. "That's what they do. They're that humble. There's no glory, and they don't look at themselves as a hero. They look at it as they're just doing the job the Navy taught them to do, but I was very impressed (by Vandesande). He's a good sailor, and I'm glad he went out there and did his job."
